redo - the action of doing over
by Ace Trainer Ritchie
Summary: and over again, until you eventually break and sleep. (Written for the WA Drabble Challenge)


Ritchie wakes up on his tenth birthday with no memories. There's a house, and there's a calender saying tenth birthday. That's all he knows.

The house is empty, he is empty. He doesn't know why his tenth birthday is so special.

The phone rings, he picks up, hoping the person tells him what to do and where to go. The person does just that and Ritchie is relieved. Head to Oak's house, receive a Pokemon.

Ritchie's mind was empty, he didn't know what that meant. So he asks for directions and receives them.

Unempty his mind, its just static now.

* * *

When Ritchie arrives at Oak's house, he's taken to a lab. He's also given a run down of the three Pokemon - Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, grass, fire, water - which he appreciated because he didn't know anything. Including who the person standing in front of him was.

Ritchie assumed his name was Oak, but other than that he didn't know. He didn't know what Pokemon were, he didn't know _anything _. His mind was static slowly melting away, slowly being replaced with information that he should take and carry.

At the very least, his mind was a sponge in this state. At least.

* * *

A week later, with a Charmander and what his Pokedex calls a Caterpie, Ritchie finds himself in another town with a gym they say he can challenge. They shooed him away from the first town, because he was "Pokemon Trainer" and he should be challenging gyms. This gym wasn't available. Go to Pewter they say.

Ritchie assumes this new town is Pewter, but all they said it was just past Viridian Forest. Maybe he passed a forest, there were a lot of trees. He hoped this town was Pewter. His brain was static, he knew nothing. He knew absolutely nothing.

* * *

Seven gym badges later, a party full of six fully evolved Pokemon, and a mind with minimal static, Ritchie finds himself back in Viridian. Blaine told him the final challenge was there, which Ritchie managed to clear enough static to remember they kicked him out of there. Maybe they just reopened. Maybe he needed all seven gym badges.

But that would've been logical. Ritchie didn't think this world ran on logic if a gym was in an active volcano.

Ritchie sighs, heads into the gym, expecting to see a gym leader. He saw, instead, something else that he didn't expect.

* * *

"It's you, you who've went through this loop for the third time. Do you not remember? You started it, all for a selfless act no one could've done," is what Ritchie is greeted with when he walks into the Viridian City Gym.

"Mewtwo!" the leader yells, but Ritchie moves forward, forgoing logic. The world didn't run on logic anyways.

"You who choose to save a dying Pokemon Center, forgoing your own safety.

You who care not about yourself but others only.

Human, I will say, I'll remove you from this reality and allow you to start over. Do you accept?"

* * *

Ritchie wakes up on his tenth birthday with one memory. Mewtwo.

He has no reason why this is the only thing in his staticy brain. He only knew it was his tenth birthday because the calender said it was.

Ritchie leaves his bed, receives a call from a man who calls himself Professor Oak, and tries to see someone in his town.

When he walks to the house next to him, he finds out there's no one. There is absolutely no one in the house.

He tries more doors, but no one comes out. He's the only one living here.

* * *

When he reaches Professor Oak, Ritchie asks about Mewtwo.

"You mean, you know of the artificially created Pokemon Mewtwo?" Oak asks and Ritchie shrugs.

"I don't, know it. It's the only thing in my mind."

"Do you, know what Mewtwo is?"

"I don't know what you mean by Pokemon." Ritchie laughs.

Oak's face turns from its first expression to a more stretched out expression. "You don't know what a Pokemon is?" And Ritchie shakes his head.

"You must stay in my lab then, it's not safe you outside. If you don't know anything, oh boy."

And so Ritchie stays, regrettably.

* * *

There's the sound of shattered glass. Ritchie looks up from his book and there stands what his mind and the books tell him is Mewtwo. There also stands Professor Oak, his afternoon tea set shattered to pieces on the ground below.

"It's Mewtwo. All my life I've… I've wanted to meet you, and you appear at my house!"

"Silence, I come not for you but for the trainer." Ritchie can only assume its him Mewtwo's talking about.

Mewtwo does what sounds like a sigh and speaks, "I left you with too little information. Let me remove you from this reality."

* * *

Ritchie wakes up in a void, Mewtwo with him, and his brain not static for once.

"I gave you too little information, my apologies."

"All I knew was you," Ritchie says nonchalantly, because that's all he knew. "All I knew was your name and nothing else."

"My -"

"It's okay," Ritchie laughs. "You don't need to apologize." He lightly punches his head. "This little brain can't fit a lot anyways."

Mewtwo looks almost surprised, but its face neutralizes within seconds. "Let me catch you up to speed. Let me fulfill you with all the information you've missed since the first loop."

* * *

Ritchie wakes up to a phone call and the question why.

"Ritchie, my apologies," Professor Oak says on the phone and Ritchie can't help but laugh it off. "But the delivery didn't come on time so we'll have to delay you becoming a Pokemon Trainer."

"It's okay, I'll just start when Ash starts," Ritchie says, and instantly he realizes, no one knows what he knows.

"You know Ash Ketchum?"

"Childhood friends?" Ritchie says, hoping it slides.

"Did Ash live in Frodomar Town before moving to Palette Town?" Oak muses before Ritchie immediately hands up the phone. Mistake. Fixable, but still.

* * *

Ritchie decides to check his hometown again, looking to see if there's any sign of life, because last timeline there was no one. Looking around the town, there were signs of no one once again. No one lived in the town that he lived. He vaguely remembered what Mewtwo showed him, that he said his hometown in the past, but he didn't exactly remember why that was such a bad idea. Mewtwo just let it roll so Ritchie just let it he'll figure that out later. Later being the next reality, the next time he travels. Next loop.

* * *

Two months of waiting Ritchie receives a phone call from Professor Oak, telling him to travel to the lab because two of the Palette Town trainers were ready.

"Two? Shouldn't it be four?" Ritchie asks.

"Well, you see," Oak says, clearly surprised and Ritchie mentally face palms.

Oak explains the situation and Ritchie sighs. If everything went right this could've been the _good _timeline, but it relied on Ash getting Pikachu. With only three of them, no matter what happened, Ash would not end up with Pikachu. This timeline, this reality, this… _moment _was wrong.

It was very much cursed.

* * *

Ritchie, Ash, and Gary get their Pokemon. Gary gets Bulbasaur to beat Ash's Squirtle, while RItchie ends up with Charmander.

It was all wrong, Pikachu should've come out. Catching on in Viridian Forest was just wrong for Ash. That was _Ritchie's _job, and Gary could do whatever he wanted. Ash, on the other hand, had to have Pikachu. He wouldn't be the same person without Pikachu…

Ritchie needed a way to reset the timeline, but he couldn't do that on his own. Someone had to appear and stop it, someone…

Ash is in front of him when he wakes up.

* * *

Ash paces around the spare room that Ritchie assumed Oak had for him after he fainted. "You okay?"

Ritchie sighs before answering. "Yeah, sorry, just thinking."

"I feel that, thinking makes me faint sometimes too." Sometimes Ritchie wonders if Ash is okay.

Ritchie waves off the comment and sits there, thinking about how he could get Ash to get Pikachu without resetting the timeline again.

"Are you sure you're happy with your choice?"

"Yeah! Squirtle is the best I've -"

"Are you sure there's no better choice?"

"Nope, wouldn't trade it for the world."

At least Ash was still Ash here.

* * *

Ritchie meets up with Ash again at Cerulean, in front of the gym in which Ash won his badge and Misty nor Brock where nowhere in sight. Because he didn't have Pikachu.

"Oh hey Ritchie!" Ash says and Ritchie just sighs. Ash wouldn't know what was supposed to happen, Ash wouldn't understand the explanation.

Or maybe he would if RItchie told him.

"So Ash, can I ask you something?" Ritchie asks while playing the straps on his bookbag. Ash had to get this. He had to understand this…

"Hm?" Ash says, and Ritchie sighs as he starts to explain everything.

* * *

"I could just, get a Pikachu if that's what you're worried about, but I think I have to go now, Gary and I have a competition going on, if that makes sense."

Ritchie almost wanted to scream out. That it wasn't enough. Because the Ash he knew didn't care he had a competition with Gary - even if he ever had one - the Ash Ritchie knew just wanted to _help _.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

Ash turns around. "Well, none of what you said made sense so…"

None of what he said made sense.

Why as he even doing this?

* * *

The next time the three of them meet it's at the League.

This is the longest time loop Ritchie's been in.

To be fair, Ritchie also didn't know his purpose. He's assuming just stopping this time loop that he caused but then there's… the fact that he doesn't know how to stop it. And if he just lives with the fact that he actually changed history because he wanted to help someone.

Does he just, stand there and watch as history changes course because he wanted to save an old PokeCenter?

Does he just, sit there and realize his mistake?

* * *

Ritchie stands there, as the boy who won.

Ash stands there, as the boy who almost won, but no one cares about him.

(At least something didn't change.)

Ritchie stands there, fist clenched as Ash cries and tries to congratulate him.

"You need to listen to me, this didn't work out the way it was supposed to."

"But you won?" Ash says, tilting his head.

"None of this is right, this isn't the original timeline."

"You make, no sense."

"You weren't supposed to be alone."

"Alone? I have friends!"

But he doesn't.

In that moment, Ritchie realizes he went insane.

* * *

Ritchie stays in his town, because he's alone in there.

The trophy sits in the trash because he didn't want to see it.

He stays in the corner of his room because he messed up.

He's so godddamn stupid.

There's a knock at Ritchie's door after five days of living like this.

It's Ash, Ritchie realizes as he walks in.

Who cares, this is the correct timeline, this is the cursed timeline.

"Ritchie?"

Ritchie doesn't respond.

"Ritchie, come out come out where ever you are!"

Ritchie does not come out. At all

He stays in the corner of his room.

* * *

Ash finally finds Ritchie curled up in his room.

"That's… that doesn't look healthy."

"Who cares, I messed up."

"But you won?"

"_ Who cares that I won?" _

Ash steps back, because Ritchie lost it and basically yelled.

"You don't have to be such a sore loser about it, geez."

"Ash did I tell you why I started this journey?"

"No?" But Ritchie can tell Ash doesn't want to hear it.

"Whatever, it's nothing. I just, wish I wasn't such an idiot."

"But you -"

"Stop saying I won. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. All I did was ruin your life…"

"No."

* * *

As soon as Ash said that, Ritchie looks up.

"No you didn't, my life is fine. But I think you've ruined yours…"

"All I wanted to do was save a PokeCenter… then I've just been on a time loop forever. Sometimes I have memories, sometimes I don't.

I just want… one more chance, one more chance so everything is as close to the original time line as possible.

If that means not existing then I'm fine with that. I just want everything to work out."

Ash places his hands on his hips.

"That's a death wish, you need help now."

* * *

Ash failed at getting Ritchie help, so he promised to come the next day

Meanwhile, Mewtwo comes.

"Is what you said true?"

Ritchie nods.

"That wasn't the point. This was your punishment, and giving you a timeline like this was the perfect punishment.

You want to help everyone, that is your downfall. You don't understand when to stop. You don't care if you die. And unlike Ash you have no one to stop you.

You are truly dangerous, we had to punish you. I'm glad that you've ended up like this, but we need to remove Ash, he's very dangerous."

* * *

Ritchie wakes up with static. There's memories, but they have static in them.

He won the league, but against who? Who was his last opponent?

Someone came to his house, but he didn't know who.

But it probably didn't matter. He got up from his bed, fished the League Trophy out of the trash, headed to the woods.

He was wrong, it did matter.

Because he was tired and forgot everything. He knew he was stressing about something… but he couldn't tell what.

It was all static.

And then there was Mewtwo.

"Live here, forever, do not make more friends."


End file.
